2010 Soldiers' Christmas & Holiday Care Packages Final Update

I received an email from Mike _____ saying that the last packages we sent out were received. If you remember, I detailed all the contents of all but one of the care packages we sent to him. I held off on that one because it was something a little special but since mike has acknowledged receipt, I can now give the details of that one to you too. The below is a copy of an email I received from Smoky Mountain Knife Works once the order shipped:

Greetings from smkw.com

We thought you'd like to know that we shipped your items on 12/13/2010. Your order 9942414 is being shipped and cannot be changed by you or by our customer service department.

You can track the status of this order and all your future orders at: http://www.smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/Order.do?action=trackUPSOrder

The following items have been shipped to you:

Qty Item Price Shipped Subtotal

7 CASE LT1405LSS CALIBER LOCKBACK 147 (5) $11.99 7 $83.93

6 CASE CALIBER LOCKBACK/CAMO $11.99 6 $71.94

1 CASE KNIFE ROLL/2010 PROMO $0.00 1 $0.00

1 CASE 2-SIDED STONE AND POUCH/2010 PROMO $0.00 1 $0.00

Shipped via

Tracking number: 000241562

Item Subtotal: $155.87
Shipping and handling: $20.78
Tax: $0.00

Total: $176.65

Paid by: Card with last four digits = xxxx

This shipment was sent to:

SPC MICHAEL _____ (I deleted the last name & address)

Thank you for shopping with us. smk

smkw.com is a division of Smoky Mountain Knife Works, Inc.

The knives we sent to Mike and his unit were all Case brand Medium Caliber Lockback Knives. They had a choice between two colors that were included in the shipment, thus 6 of one and 7 of the other. Note that the knives usually went for $14.99 each but I somehow got 20% off; I think it was an online coupon but cannot recall for sure. Also note the knives are all CASE brand knives. That means they were MADE IN THE USA and are all quality knives. I figured that those points might be appreciated by our soldiers. The knives shipped with some freebies, also shown above, from Smoky Mountain Knife Works which is the company from which I ordered them.

So that last package with the knives accounts for what remained of the money donated toward the care packages for the 2010 Christmas holiday season; I gave a breakdown of spending for the last packages, including the knives, here.

I want to thank all of you who donated this year. There were not as many people who donated as in previous years but there was a good amount of money thanks to the generosity of those who did give something. You are all good folks and deserve a thousand thanks and a pat on the back (so feel free to start patting). You all already know that you have my thanks but I have thanks from some other folks of which I need to make you aware. So, let me convey to you the message of thanks from Mike in his most recent email to me, it was dated December 30, 2010:

"hey glenn we got your packages thank you so much for the knives every on got one with one extra so i gave it to one of our civilian guys that works with us every one said thanks for the gift and thank you for everything you have sent me it means a lot. stay safe and keep in touch and tell everyone that is helping with the care packages thanks for their support as well
your friend mike"

That is exactly how it appeared in his email to me (except for the color and bold face which I added).

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. I think we can rest assured that we helped some other folks, ones who deserved it most of all, have likewise.

All the best,
Glenn B

PS: Please do not send any more donations, I will not be accepting them again until next fall. I will continue to send packages to Mike ____ for him and his unit until the end of his deployment but will fund those myself. It was very nice of you all to have helped make the holiday packages much, much nicer than they would have been had I tried on my own. I am thankful to you all - you are truly very good and generous American patriots without whom it would not have happened.